PharmAccess is a group of non-profit organizations dedicated to improving access to quality healthcare in Africa. PharmAccess mobilizes public and private resources for the benefit of doctors and patients through clinical standards and quality improvements, loans for healthcare providers, health insurance, mHealth innovations and operational research.
This integrated approach is made possible by the following organizations:
Amref Flying Doctors and PharmAccess announced today to receive an additional funding of 1,75 million Euro from the Dutch Postcode Lottery for the Dream Fund project i-PUSH. The project aims to strengthen the healthcare system in Kenya and to provide access to affordable, quality healthcare for 65,000 women and their families.
One of Angela Wamukoya’s (42) sons has epilepsy: “Thanks to the health insurance of i-PUSH we can now access quality healthcare that we no longer have to pay out of our own pocket.”
i-PUSH
For many in sub-Sahara Africa, access to healthcare remains a luxury. And once accessed, the care provided is often low in quality. At the same time, the African continent has gone through a mobile revolution, with great social and economic impact. With access to a mobile phone, low-income families can now be reached and supported directly, and against much lower cost. Within i-PUSH (Innovative Partnership for Universal Sustainable Healthcare), Amref Flying Doctors and PharmAccess work together to make quality care available to women and their families, through their mobile phones.
Promising results
To date over 35,000 women and their families received access to a mobile health insurance. With the insurance, they can visit a clinic immediately, without first having to save for the doctor’s bill, or by ending in medical debt. i-PUSH also employs local community health volunteers (CHVs), of which more than 2,000 have already been trained to educate the community on issues related to health, detect and treat common diseases and refer people to a clinic or hospital, when necessary.
As the project connects well with the current government’s goals to increase the enrollment rate of low-income groups into a national health insurance, the two organizations expect to scale rapidly and continue to make a big impact on the communities.
Margriet Schreuders, Head of Charities at the Postcode Lottery: “In 2015 the Dutch Postcode Lottery’s Dream Fund enabled the launch of i-PUSH to improve healthcare in Kenya. The project’s approach already showed to be successful: no less than 35,000 women and their families now have health insurance. We are happy to continue funding Amref Flying Doctors and PharmAccess to further realize sustainable access to quality healthcare and to provide health insurance for 65,000 women.
PharmAccess expresses its gratitude towards the Postcode Lottery and its participants for their contribution and continuing support!
